Page 74 of Her Forbidden Highlander Husband

“And don’t track my courses, it makes me nervous.”

“Yes.” He pulled out the scrap of paper and threw it in the hearth. Since there was no fire burning in July, it just sat there on old ashes doing nothing.

Rather like he felt.

…

Evelyn clung to Liam and cried a bit. A bit was all she allowed, since there was no loss. There was nothing to lose. She hadn’t been with child.

Still, her heart burned with sadness. Embarrassment for her outburst only made her angrier. Her poor husband didn’t know what to do, but damned if he didn’t stay there with her and try.

He was a courageous man. Or perhaps daft. She laughed at that, and he pulled back to eye her warily.

“I have to confess, Ev. You’re jumping around so much it’s like trying to get a drunken man into his bed. I don’t know what to do.”

“Just hold me. I feel many things right now and I don’t feel I have the right to most of them.”

“I’ll not judge. Go on and feel whatever it is you wish to feel, and I’ll just hold on.”

“Being perfect isn’t helping me right now.”

He winked. “I’m afraid I know only how to be perfect. If you needed a flawed man, you should have looked elsewhere. Perhaps in another stall— Ow, woman!” he barked.

She knew she hadn’t hit him hard enough to cause that reaction. He was trying to get her to laugh and feel better. And it worked.

She reached up and brushed his hair from his face so she could look at him closer. “You’re beautiful.”

“Are you sure ye haven’t been drinking today?” His wide grin just made him all that more attractive.

“I’m sorry I was distraught.”

“You don’t ever need to apologize.”

She’d ranted at him earlier. She’d said things she shouldn’t have, but not everything was untrue or ridiculous. Liam didn’t think he deserved an apology from her for mistreating him because he felt he should be lucky to have her.

He felt unworthy, and she didn’t know what she might do to change that. She didn’t like being held to standards she’d never reach in his eyes. She was bound to disappoint him time and time again.

She looked him in those icy blue eyes that held so much warmth. “I will apologize to you because I treated you badly and I’m sorry for it. It wasn’t right to take my anger out on you. You are deserving of my apology.”

He nodded but said nothing. She could tell he didn’t agree. She’d take his silence as a step in the right direction.

Chapter Twenty-Six

By the next day, Ev was more herself and Liam relaxed again. He’d worried she might not forgive him. He knew Lach and Cam locked horns with their wives from time to time.

Liam hadn’t expected he and Ev would ever argue. It was a strange thing to be relieved it had happened. It was easy enough to move on, though it had nearly killed him to allow her to apologize. Later, when he was alone, he thought it over and realized why it was important to her.

During drills in the bailey, Liam dodged out of Colin’s way a bit too late and caught a hole in his shirt for his slowness.

“I’m sorry. Did I hurt ye?” the lad asked.

“If ye had, it would have been my own fault, not yours. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“I don’t ever want to be married.” The boy shook his head.

Liam remembered a time when he’d felt the same way. He didn’t need to tell Colin he’d change his mind. Like any lad, he wouldn’t believe it and he’d find out the truth of it soon enough.

He was about to make a move to take down the boy when one of the villagers interrupted. Liam listened carefully to what he shared and nodded. “I’ll be there soon. Can you see that he doesn’t go anywhere until we arrive?”